Businessman aids students.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Charles McVean)

Last March, Charles McVean, a highly successful commodities trader and philanthropist from Memphis, Tennessee, paid a visit to Shelby, Mississippi, to meet with local businessman Rives Neblett. Shelby, an impoverished town of 2,900 people in the Mississippi Delta, had been experiencing a very high rate of school dropouts. Prior to the meeting between the two philanthropists, Mississippi Superintendent of Education Dr. Hank Bounds had toured the area and issued a challenge to the business community to do what they could to help the educational system as a way to achieving greater economic prosperity.

"I and others in the community started thinking of ways we could attack this problem--to improve the dropout rate, and try to improve the national test scores of our students. That's how this whole thing came about," Neblett told the Bolivar Commercial (Mississippi).

Neblett set up the March meeting with McVean, who donated $25,000 to get the Greater North Bolivar School Foundation started. Community educators and business leaders jumped aboard the project, which involves training tutors to work with younger students who need extra help to stay in school.

"We've already selected six ...